Signs & Symptoms of Anxiety Disorders

An anxiety disorder diagnosis means that a patient experiences normal anxious feelings at a magnified level. Instead of being able to simply get over an anxious moment, a patient can let the symptoms continue on to the point of interrupting normal life. There are several types of anxiety disorders that are expressed in different symptoms arising from specific situations or past experiences.

Generalized Anxiety Disorder

• The general symptoms of a diagnosed anxiety disorder are what separate it from normal anxiety. Overall, these symptoms are severe enough to interfere with daily living. Physical symptoms include nervousness, muscle tension all around, easy fatigue and insomnia. Psychological symptoms are irrational fears, feelings of dread, inability to relax and an inability to control anxious thoughts. Some potentially anxiety-inducing situations that may lead to these symptoms are typically a life change such as job loss or even a chance at a job promotion. Patients may seem more irritable and jittery than normal and constantly speak about the impending event. As intense as these feelings may be, there are many who share them. The National Institute of Mental Health reports that nearly 40 million adults are diagnosed with an anxiety disorder at any given time.

Panic Disorder

• Panic disorder is a type of anxiety disorder in which the patient can easily succumb to a panic attack. Panic attacks can involve a sudden rush of fear and feelings of impending doom in which the patient may think he is about to die. Rapid heartbeat and inability to control breathing can also occur. It is difficult to predict when these attacks will happen in some patients, but with other patients the triggers are well known. For example, if someone suffered a horrible accident on the freeway, she may be susceptible to panic attacks when near that same highway.

Posttraumatic Stress Disorder

• If someone has witnessed or experienced a severely traumatic event in which he felt completely helpless, he could be susceptible to posttraumatic stress disorder, or PTSD. PTSD can affect people who have suffered from sexual or child abuse; yet it often strikes veterans who witness such traumas as losing their friends on the battlefield or collateral death. PTSD may not even have set in by a few months or years after returning from war, but symptoms could slowly begin once the person starts reliving the events in her mind. These symptoms and problems include severe withdrawal, substance abuse, an aversion to certain situations like going to hospitals and night terrors.

Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder

• Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is a form of anxiety that involves a life-altering obsession over a certain pattern, thought or object(s). These obsessions or compulsions must be satisfied in a way; otherwise, the patient might begin to experience symptoms associated with generalized anxiety disorder. Some of these obsessions could compel the person to gamble or count every step while walking. In other cases, the compulsion may be an activity like needing to wash hands a set number of times before leaving the bathroom or checking every window and door in a house four times before leaving.

Social Anxiety Disorder

• An extreme aversion to social settings or specific social situations can be the root of social anxiety disorder, or SAD. This is also referred to as social phobia, since the fear can also apply to all social settings. Some patients are afraid of facing social judgment or public embarrassment. For diagnosed patients who are put into these situations, they can become extremely withdrawn and nervous. It isn't uncommon for physical symptoms such as heavy sweating or trouble breathing to also happen.